So I am checking out of the Cat Food Store as The Carnivore calls the mega pet supply center in that town that turns blue and orange on Saturdays in the fall (like a scene from “The X Files”) when the cashier asks, “How many cats do you have?”

“Four.”

She looks over the two-week supply of cans, bags and treats that fills two of those reusable totes,. “They like a variety of food,” she says.

Last week’s newspaper reported, (in the story headlined “Old middle school, new city hall again take lead at council meeting,” page 1) that council member Danny Etheridge said of a proposal “It’s a bad idea. I’m not in favor of taking it for free and selling it.”

When Tom and I started traveling more by air than land for our vacations, I learned quickly how important it is to be organized and how essential it is to cram as much as you can carry when you board a plane.

We were in an airport somewhere when I spied what I thought was the perfect solution – an Ogio backpack that didn't look as if I were ready for the Appalachian Trail.

or several years I have started off the "silly season", better known as campaign season with a fervent wish that things would be clean and without some of the negativism that has plagued other campaign seasons.